Wire-rod mill



(No Model.)

H. ROBERTS.

WIRE ROD MILL. No. 892,884. Patented'Nw 6,1888.

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I' Il N E q S5 i 1h WITNESSES 7273 M} 'A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY ROBERTS, OF vPIT'ISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

WIRE-Ron NULL..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,364, dated November6, 1888.

I Application filed April 523, 18H8. Serial No. 271,593. (No model.)

.To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY ROBERTS, of Pittsburg, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Vire-Rod Mills; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In rolling metal rods in a mill as now commonly practiced it iscustomary to employ a series of trains of rolls set in line with eachother and to pass the metal back and forth between these rolls. As themetal is reduced in diameter and increased in length, there is alwaysdifficulty in controlling it and preventing it from kinking, especiallyso when it is attempted to roll more than one rod at a time in a singlemill. For this purposeit has been usual to employ boys, who stand withhooks opposite to the rolls and guide the elongating metal loop with aview of preventing it from kinking or injuring the workmen. The work ofthese boys is very dangerous, andrequires the closest attention, andtherefore the wages paid them are quite high. Besides this, the leastneglectvon their part is apt to cause the kinking of the rod, and whenthis hap pens the delay in its passage through the mill chills the metaland unfits it for use, necessitating the cutting of it into pieces forscrap.

My present invention is an improvement on inclined doors adapted t0diminish the evils before recited; and it consists in placing over theinclined guide-floor an elevated horizontal platform or oor. The wireloop travels on the inclined door below, and this leaves the horizontalfloor unobstructed for the or dinary operations of the mill, the workmenbeing enabled to walk thereon in comparative security.

It also consists in providing the door of the mill with a projection orstop having a curved end, over whichl the metal loop passes and aroundwhich it is drawn by the action of the rolls. The effect of thisprojection is to straighten the metal rod and to 'remove'from itkinks'or bends, and to compel the rod to travel in a regular course fromone pair of rolls to the next.

The purpose of these features of my invention is to save time in thework of rolling the rods, 'to enable a great deal of the labor to bedispensed with, and to save room in the mill building. All theseelements are important factors in the cost of manufacture of the rods,and my invention is therefore one of real importance and value.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a plan view of a rod-rolling mill constructed according tothe principles of my invention, one of the plates of the horizontalfloor of the mill being removed to permit the inclined floor to be seen.Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on the line m w of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section on the liney y'of Fig. vl. on theline z z of Fig. l.

Like symbols of reference indicate like parts in each.

In the drawings, 2 and 3 represent two adjacent pairs of rolls of awire-rod mill, and 4 represents the floor of the mill on thev deliveryside of the rolls 2. This iioor is inclined, the inclination havingpreferably a fall of about eleven feet in sixty, as shown in Fig. 2,though the inclination may be greater or less than this.

5 is the ordinary curved guide or trough, which extends from the rolls 2to the rolls 3 and which directs the end 0f the loop from one pair ofrolls to the other, and 8 is an open trough on the inclined floorextending transversely from the delivery side of the rolls. As the rodpasses between the rolls, the enlarging loop escapes from over the guideand passes down the inclined floor of the mill, onebranch of the looptraveling within the guide-trough 8. The guide-trough 8 is smooth, sothat it shall offer as little resistance as possible to the passage ofthe lo'op. Heretofore it has been proposed to use' a guide of thisgeneral character, but with a corrugated or cross-ribbed bottom; but Ihave found that this feature is a disadvantage.

Over a part or the whole of the inclined floor is a horizontalfloor,6,which is supported by suitable beams, 7. This affords a coveringfor the inclined `floor, and as the metal travels beneath thehorizontalfloor the workmen may pass back and forth on it withcomparative freedom from danger and without interfering with theoperations ofthe mill. Aspace, b, is

Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section left at the end of the horizontaliloor lor free passage of the wire loop beneath it. Between the openingb and the rolls the inclined iioor is uncovered, and between the guidetrough 8 on one side and the other side of the inclined floor is araised shelf, 10, at the side of which is a trough or gutter, l1,extending from the pair of rolls 3. The last-named gutter 1l is coveredby a plate, l2, (preferably integral with the shelf 10,) but is providedwith an opening at the top, which allows the entrance of one branch ofthe wire loop into the gutter.

I believe I am the first to use a covered guide trough having an openingat the top, and desire to claim it broadly, since it may be used toadvantage without the other elements ofthe combination, which I show.

The use of the gutter l1, in connection with the trough on the otherside of the shelf l0, is of great utility, because it keeps the branchesof the wire loop separate and prevents its entanglement. The eover-platel2 is useful, because it keeps the end of the wire loop from iiying up,and thus prevents entanglement when more than one loop is passed throughat a single time. The side of the trough S, between the rolls 2 and theopening b, is stepped, as shown in Fig. 4, the purpose of the stepsbeing to prevent the wire from rising out of the trough and to preventthe loops from tangliug when two or more are passing at the same time.

For the purpose of affording access to remove scrap,whieh may accumulatein the space beneath the horizontal floor, I may provide the horizontalfloor with a trap or man-hole, or an opening may beleft at the bottomofthe inclined iloor, as may bc the more convenient.

011 the inclined loor l--prcferabl y about midway- I place a projectionor stop, S),which is preferably inclined upwardly from the floor in adirection away from the rolls,and is curved at the end, as shown inFigs. l and 2. The elongating metal loop passes over this projection andencircles it, and when the rear end of the loop emerges from the rolls 2it is compelled by this projection to pass entirely around it. .lhe loopis thus prevented from hinliing, any unevenness in the loopisstraightcned, and the curvature of the end prevents cutting ofthe loopin its passage.

I am aware that heat-retaining boxes have been sunk in mill floors toreceive coiled billets, and that rod tubes or pockets have been sunlr inmillfloors to receive and retain the heat in rods as they passed fromthe rolls, and I do not herein claim any of said devices or theprinciples involved therein.

Further, I am aware that inclined troughs or overfeed-regulators havebeen provided to conduct the loop from the bite of the rolls to theusual horizontal mill-floor, so as to counteract the tendency of thesides of the loop to bend inward toward each other and become entangled,and I do not herein broadly claim such overfeed-troughs, which arefeatures independent of and leading to the floor proper; but

That I claim is- 1. In a wire-rod mill, the eombination,with two sets ofrolls arranged to have different lines of feed, of an inclined subfloorleading to and from said pairs of rolls, and acoveringdoor arranged oversaid inclined sub-floor, substantially as and for the purposesspecified.

2. In a wire-rod mill, the combination,with two sets of rolls arrangedto have different lines of feed, of an overfeed-regnlator leading fromthe rolls to the floor, an inclined receivingiloor, and a curvedprojection or stop arranged on said floor at or near the end of theloop-path, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. In a wire-rod mill, the combinatiomwith two sets of rolls arranged tohave different lines of feed, of an inclined subfloor, an up per orcovering floor, and a loop-stop arranged on the sub-floor under thecovering-Hoor, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. In awire-rod mill, the combinatiomwith two sets of rolls arranged tohave different lines of feed, of an inclined loop-trough having at oneside an open passage and at the other a partially covered passage,substantially as and lfor the purposes specified.

5. ln a wire-rod mill, the combinatiomwith two sets of rolls arranged tohave ditferent lines of feed, of a loop-trough provided with lateralsteps or risers, snhstanti ally as and for the purposes specified.

G. In a wirerod mill, the combination,with the rolls, of alongitudinally -inclined guidetrough having a laterally-inclined side,subslantially as and for the purposes specified.

7. In a wire-rod mill, the combinatiomwith two sets of rolls, of aloop-trough having the gutter 1I and a plate, 12, which partially coverssaid gutter, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of April,A. D. 1888.

'HENRY ROBERTS.

X'Vitnesses:

W. B. CoRwiN, J. K. SMITH.

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